3 minute read
CYBER SECURITY | ROSARIO DE PILAR SORIA
PROTECTING BUSINESSES CYBERSECURITY
writer PETER WHITE // photography LOGAN WEST
ROSARIO DE PILAR SORIA just loves her job as security operations manager at Securecom. “My attitude is to have fun and enjoy it every day. I still see this as a hobby – to get paid as well is awesome!” says Rosario. The Peruvian national leads a security operations team that protects businesses from cyber attacks. Securecom is a New Zealand Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) that supplies security services and end-to-end IT services to businesses across all industry sectors. “My team is responsible for monitoring, detecting and responding to every security incident. Leading and co-ordinating our response is a critical part of my job. If anything major happens, I am across any actions that are needed and I keep customers informed. “Basically, any critical cyber security alerts or any abnormal behaviour in the network at any point comes to us. We respond, we investigate and if there is any remedial action
ROSARIO DE PILAR SORIA we need to take, then we make a call on that.” Rosario came to New Zealand from Peru after finishing high school. She loved computers so was delighted to begin her three-year Bachelor of Computing Systems at Unitec in 2014. “When I came to New Zealand, I always knew I wanted to pursue IT because computers had always been my passion and my hobby, but I never thought I could make a living out of it. “While I was studying IT in my first year, I figured out that cyber security was the right path for me. At first, I thought it would not work but after talking with other students and lecturers and doing my own research, I discovered that cyber security was something that excites me and something I wanted to follow.” Rosario enjoyed the experience and found Unitec to be the ideal place to study. “I chose Unitec based on the degree they offered. From day one, I was already making connections and contacts and I liked the way it was so hands-on. Other degrees have more theory but I wanted to do the practical side of things straight away and that is what happened. Any help we needed was given to us. Rosario would like to see more school leavers who are doing computer studies to consider cyber security. “They need to invest time in their studies whether that’s at uni or at school. It would be good if they know what they want to do in the future but if not, then don’t worry about it as they will figure it out along the way. That is what happened to me. “For cyber security, you’ve got to have attention to detail. That is crucial as we can’t really make mistakes and overlook things. The other thing is to stay calm when people come to you when things go wrong.”
KEY FACTS
■ ROSARIO DE PILAR SORIA IS A SECURITY OPERATIONS MANAGER AT SECURECOM
WHERE SHE LEADS A SECURITY OPERATIONS TEAM THAT PROTECTS BUSINESSES
FROM CYBER ATTACKS. ■ SHE HAS A BACHELOR OF COMPUTING SYSTEMS FROM UNITEC. SHE FOUND THE
DEGREE TO BE VERY HANDS-ON AND PRACTICAL. ■ ROSARIO RECOMMENDS CYBER SECURITY AS AN AREA OF FOCUS FOR STUDENTS
INTERESTED IN WORKING IN THE COMPUTING INDUSTRY. For more information on studying computer systems at Unitec, visit
www.unitec.ac.nz/computing
